Chevre Off

We had wine on our minds. Then we got a
little hungry, so we staged a raid on the cheese case at Irvington’s
Foster & Dobbs specialty foods store. What should you pair with an
Oregon pinot noir? Five tasters put eight wildly varied types of hard
and soft Oregon goat cheese through a blind taste-off. Here are the
cheesemakers’ claims and our tasting notes.

They say: “A slightly cakey paste that nonetheless breaks down unctuously in the mouth.”We say: “A runny, goopy cheese.”“It has a certain goatiness to it, but it’s not as strong as I would want it to be.”

They say: “Tangy and bright with a delicious saltiness and wisps of wet stone and mineral flavors.”We say: “Goes well with wine.”“Refreshing; almost like an after-dinner palate cleanse, but not in the toothpaste way.”